Facilitating cartilage volume measurement using MRI

PurposeTo compare quantitative cartilage volume measurement (CVM) using different slice thicknesses.Materials and methodsTen knees were scanned with a 1.5 T MRI (Sonata, Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) using a 3D gradient echo sequence (FLASH, fast low-angle shot). Cartilage volume of the medial and lateral tibial plateau was measured by two independent readers in 1.5 mm, 3.0 mm and 5.0 mm slices using the Argus® software application. Accuracy and time effectiveness served as control parameters.ResultsDetermining cartilage volume, time for calculation diminished for the lateral tibial plateau from 384.6 ± 127.7 s and 379.1 ± 117.6 s to 214.9 ± 109.9 s and 213.9 ± 102.2 s to 122.1 ± 60.1 s and 126.8 ± 56.2 s and for the medial tibial plateau from 465.0 ± 147.7 s and 461.8 ± 142.7 s to 214.0 ± 67.9 s and 208.9 ± 66.2 s to 132.6 ± 41.5 s and 130.6 ± 42.0 s measuring 1.5 mm, 3 mm and 5 mm slices, respectively. No statistically significant difference between cartilage volume measurements was observed (p > 0.05) while very good inter-reader correlation was evaluated.ConclusionCVM using 1.5 mm slices provides no higher accuracy than cartilage volume measurement in 5 mm slices while an overall time saving up to 70% is possible.